At West City Music we foster a new generation of musicians and our ensembles are enriched by talented and dedicated young people. It is essential for them to listen to live music to develop their musicianship and widen their musical horizon, but economic and logistic constraints make it increasingly hard for them to do so.
We have therefore decided to create the Concert Angels. With your help, we endeavour to get our incredible young musicians to the best concerts Auckland has to offer at a low cost or even free!
In 2024 and 2025 we managed to get two groups to the Town Hall to see extraordinary concerts by NZSO and APO and we hope to keep this going in 2026 and in the future.
Here is what the students had to say about it:
“Very fun :)”
“Good organisation – fun night :)”
“Amazing night! Love hearing live music, it was beautiful!”
Donate now to Concert Angels:
West City Music’s account number: 12-3071-0259267-01
Reference: Concert Angels
Thank you for supporting our young musicians.
Sign up before 25 March to attend Resonance on 10 April:
2026 Offerings
1. Resonance
10th April 7.30pm Auckland Town Hall
- Ravel Pavane pour une infante défunte
- Andrew Norman Slip: Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra
- Shostakovich Symphony No. 8
Ravel’s Pavane pour une infante défunte, (Pavane for a Dead Princess), despite its title, is not a funereal procession but rather a sublime and delicate portrait.
It evokes the luminescent paintings of Diego Velázquez, with music that glitters.
From such an exquisite miniature, we launch the world premiere of a new trombone concerto from the brilliant American composer Andrew Norman. Featuring one of the world’s very best trombone players Jörgen van Rijen, the vast architectures of sound and light within Norman’s music will blowyou away.
Shostakovich described his Eighth Symphony as an “attempt to reflect the terrible tragedy of war”. Composed in 1943, it is amongst his most complex, meaningful and personal works. An immense symphony that speaks of the despair of the individual against industrialised violence, the final movement finds its way towards the light and remains a clarion call for peace.
2. Romeo & Juliet
12 June 7.30pm Auckland Town Hall
- Kenneth Young Douce Tristesse
- Barber Cello Concerto
- Prokofiev Selections From Romeo And Juliet
Sergei Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet is one of the greatest ballet scores of all time. Among the courtly grandeur of Dance of the Knights, the circling, slicing, jabbing music of Death of Tybalt, and the crunching dissonances symbolising the Montagues versus the Capulets, swirls the indescribably sweet lyricism of Romeo and Juliet’s eternal love.
The same emotional depth can be found in Barber’s Cello Concerto, performed by virtuoso Li-Wei Qin. Celebrated for a sound both “incisive and searing, yet filled with tenderness” (Straits Times), Qin will steep Barber’s concerto in deep feeling and passion. Sweet nostalgia reigns in the “drifting, Ravelian waltz” (New Zealand Herald) of Kenneth Young’s Douce Tristesse.
3. Myths & Legends
22 August 7.30pm Auckland Town Hall
- Sibelius Pohjola’s Daughter
- Magnus Lindberg Violin Concerto No. 2 (NZ Premiere)
- Sibelius Lemminkäinen Suite
Aotearoa New Zealand’s dramatic landscapes chime in kind with a country half a world away: Finland. In this concert, Arctic North meets Pacific South in a programme of heart-stirring Finnish works that resonate with audiences here.
Pietari Inkinen leads the Aotearoa New Zealand premiere of Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg’s Second Violin Concerto, with NZSO Concertmaster Vesa-Matti Leppänen as soloist. This duo of Finnish talent are the perfect team to evoke the work’s “massive, expansive … panoramic vista … of dark clouds over forests and lakes, of repressed passions and baleful desires” (Financial Times).
We pair this contemporary Finnish masterpiece with a past master. Sibelius’ Pohjola’s Daughter and Lemminkäinen Suite were both inspired by the ancient epic the Kalevala. The latter describes the mythological adventures of the wizard Väinämöinen, the hero Lemminkäinen and their entanglement with the primordial forces of nature, death and magic.
4. Enigma
14 Nov 7.30pm Town Hall
- Ross Harris Concerto for Orchestra (World Premiere)
- Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto No. 5 Egyptian
- Elgar Enigma Variations
Edward Elgar’s greatest masterpiece remains swathed in mystery.
His Enigma Variations, a set of 14 variations on a theme you never actually hear, has been the subject of both intense scrutiny and great love, thanks to the compositional genius and throbbing heart pulsing in these compelling variations.
Similarly, Saint-Saëns’ Fifth Piano Concerto has beguiled audiences with its Eastern-inspired sounds — hence its Egyptian nickname. To weave his own spell on us, legendary pianist Sir Stephen Hough returns to our shores. Praised by Limelight for possessing “an other-worldly stillness and strength [and] the perfect technique combined with the utmost poetic fluency”, Hough promises to transport us to another world.
We proudly premiere Ross Harris’ Concerto for Orchestra. A four-time winner of the SOUNZ Contemporary Award, Harris’ artistry and bold vision electrifies this newly commissioned work, driving the orchestra to new heights.